 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: xeys_00
Date: 2009-07-04 15:01
Well, I got the selmer 1440. A couple of questions. How do I swab this? I was told not to take it apart unless absolutely needed. Also, how do I transpose so I can play b flat clarinet music? C Piano music? Any comments or advice will be welcome. I made a youtube video, And yes, I know I'm still not tonguing exactly right, so please forgive me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljjSAZp3Ssk
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2009-07-05 15:43
For my contra-alto, I swab the neck and the bell separately, with an ordinary silk pull-through soprano clarinet swab. For the sections, I bought an Ann Hodges silk bass clarinet swab, removed the weight from the end of the string and added to the length of the pull-through by tying the string to a length of ball-chain. Harware stores that sell ball-chain also sell attachment loops. I put one of these on each end of the chain. I used spring rings (available at craft stores that sell jewelry-making and bead-stringing supplies) to secure the metal loop connection at the bottom of the string to the top of the chain and the lower end of the chain to the loop connection at the top of the weight. With the string made long enough to drop all the way through, the bass clarinet swab works well in a contra-alto.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: xeys_00
Date: 2009-07-05 20:12
It also doesn't seem as agile as the bass clarinet, i am kind of fumbling on quick passages... I'm happy with it, but am also trying to find e flat music to play. Strangely enough, the music in my b flat clarinet books sounds the same on the e flat contra. Shouldn't it sound really off??? Just some musings I am having at the moment...
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2009-07-06 01:15
xeys_00 wrote:
> It also doesn't seem as agile as the bass clarinet, i am kind
> of fumbling on quick passages... I'm happy with it, but am also
> trying to find e flat music to play. Strangely enough, the
> music in my b flat clarinet books sounds the same on the e flat
> contra. Shouldn't it sound really off??? Just some musings I am
> having at the moment...
I've never played one of these but if they sound the same maybe you are in fact squeaking, i.e., overblowing and getting the twelfth? Just a thought.
Steve Epstein
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2009-07-06 13:32
For swabbing the contra alto I'm using the big swabs that came with my Buffet Prestige bass. They are like long bottle brushes and although I don't like them nearly as much as the pull through swabs, they work very well. I never used them on my bass but they work fine on this horn. I'm wondering if the ones designed for bari sax would work too, although I don't play any of the saxes.
xeys, the contra alto should sound significantly lower than your bass, I'm betting you are over-blowing if the notes sound like your Bb clarinet. i had poor luck with the mouthpiece that came with the horn but the Fobes or Grabner mouthpieces worked great. Right now I'm using the Grabner most of the time.
Have fun with it. Your band director should have some clarinet choir parts plus parts to larger band works plus you can do the transposition of bassoon and contrabassoon parts using the "change the key signature by three more sharps (e,g. the key of Bb becomes the key of G) and read it as treble clef" technique. There is a book "Understanding the Low Clarinets" that has a good discussion of this and some exercises. I would suggest that as a place to start. It has good technical exercises in the beginning too.
Eefer guy
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